Weekly Learning Artifact: Position Statement

 The articles provided are on both ends of the media as a learning tool. I feel strongly in Shuell (1988) and his view that learning is an “active, constructive, cognitive and social process by which the learner strategically manages available cognitive, physical, and social resources to create new knowledge by interacting with information in the environment and integrating it with information already stored.” Media is an interaction between entertainment and a learning environment because there is a cognitive process of learning and understanding when someone views a media source – new article, podcast, YouTube video. Each individual breaks down the material presented and based upon their previous knowledge they either accept the material presented, or they do research to educate themselves better on the subject. 

 

I believe that media can be used as a learning tool utilizing the theories and notions presented by Kozma in his article, Will Media Influence Learning? Reframing the Debate. Personally, for me, I know that my best ability to learn is by utilizing all 3 learnings styles – auditory, visual and kinesthetic. The doing part is what sticks with me the most and how I retain and retrieve the knowledge. With the media debate, part of the process in learning the material is a combination of all three learning styles, which helps to reinforce the material being learned. If the media being presented is relevant, then I strongly feel that media can be learned as a useful and meaningful learning aid and promote technology as a learning tool.